My Labrador Friends Book Club - Fiction Choice

[Jacqui-S]

Find some friends, look at what other people are reading, read books you want to read to your bookshelf,
Sophie has a great collection of books and her comments as fab!
I am Jacqui Smith (LOL) but I guess there may be many of me.

 

[Xena Dog Princess]

You'll be able to find Jacqui through my friend's list, @Rosie - she doesn't have a profile picture. It's a great website (the app isn't fantastic). When I hear about an interesting book I search for it and pop it on my "to read" list so that I don't forget about it. You can set yourself a reading challenge each year. There are so many groups, recommendations, "influencers" etc on there. I find it really helpful. You often hear about popular books, then you check out their Goodreads reviews and find out that they're terrible - sure, you might be the exception and love it, but it's nice to have an indication whether it's even worth picking up in the first place.

 

[Rosie]

Right....that's my task for tomorrow, I'm going to explore goodreads….

 

[Jacqui-S]

Oh my gosh just wept my way through the last few chapters of A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman
Didn't think I was going to like it but I did.
Odd writing style, or maybe it was Ove who was an odd character.
A worthwhile read for sure. A justified as a best seller in my book.

 

[Lisa]

Oh yes! Loved that one @Jacqui-S!

There’s a lot of that “grumpy old people” type books out there right now. That one is a really good one!

I also loved “The One in a Million Boy”.

Another one that I really loved is “The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry”. So good.

 

[Jacqui-S]

There’s a lot of that “grumpy old people” type books out there right now

There are!

 

[Candy]

I have loved everything I've read by Fredrick Backman. Thouroughly recommend him.

 

[Rosie]

Just started reading The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (Christmas present) and it has really grabbed me. Anyone else read that one? (No spoilers please, I've just started it!)

 

[Joy]

I didn't like The Seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, even though I like fantasy / magical realism. My goodreads review is here and spoilers are hidden:
Joy Stephenson’s review of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Have you read Life After Life by Kate Atkinson? I loved that. I also enjoyed The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North.

 

[Xena Dog Princess]

Ove is one of my favourite books ever. I'm a sucker for "grumpy old coot befriends unlikely youth" but it takes real talent to do what Backman did. Such a perfect little story. I still laugh when I think of "Ove punched the clown!"

I also loved Harold Fry @Lisa. I wasn't expecting it to be so moving, it definitely went in directions I wasn't expecting. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonsen is in a similar vein to the "old coot" genre and it was beautifully done. Hester and Harriett is another good one, this time about female old coots

 

[Natalie]

I've just finished 'Britt Marie was here' by Fredrick Backman. It was quite lovely by the time I got about 30 pages in. Thoroughly recommend.

 

[Jacqui-S]

It is too easy to buy books on Kindle

 

[Natalie]

Oh gosh @Jacqui-S I just realised both our books were by the same author, I hadn't realised till just now, that's a coincidence considering I'd never heard of him before

 

[Jacqui-S]

I almost bought that one just now @Natalie but went for @Lisa 's Pilgrimage of Harold Fry this time (I have loads more unread on my kindle)

I'm interested in reading a book by this Canadian author called LA Smith, though. "Wilding"? Not yet out though, only read the first chapter.........wondering when it might be available?? Hmm....any hints anyone?

 

[Plum's mum]

I too loved Life After Life by Kate Atkinson and read the follow up, A God in Ruins, just before Christmas and thought it was brilliant.

 

[Joy]

Yes I loved A God in Ruins too @Plum's mum . I have just read Transcription (another Kate Atkinson) , which was a Christmas present, and I liked it very much but not quite as much as most of her others. Mind you it had enough about it (and a very surprising ending) that made me think I'll read it again a few months.

 

[Lisa]

I almost bought that one just now @Natalie but went for @Lisa 's Pilgrimage of Harold Fry this time (I have loads more unread on my kindle)

I'm interested in reading a book by this Canadian author called LA Smith, though. "Wilding"? Not yet out though, only read the first chapter.........wondering when it might be available?? Hmm....any hints anyone?

Heh. Feb. 5 publication date

I hope you like Harold Fry. It’s so lovely.
Also loved Major Pettigrew!

 

[Lisa]

It is too easy to buy books on Kindle

Yes...that is SO true!!

 

[Lisa]

I really want to read Beartown by Frederick Backman. Heard lots of good things about it, and it’s about hockey, so kinda fits for me

 

[Xena Dog Princess]

I really want to read Beartown by Frederick Backman. Heard lots of good things about it, and it’s about hockey, so kinda fits for me

I found it an emotionally difficult read. Hockey + toxic masculinity tells you all you need to know about the content. It was so hard to believe that it was written by the same author as Ove - totally different voice and style. There's a sequel but I needed to put some space between them so haven't read it yet.